The Shippensburg University softball team endured a wild road doubleheader at Millersville on Tuesday and came away with its first sweep at Millersville in six years, defeating the host Marauders by scores of 10-9 (nine innings) and 9-5 in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division at windy Seaber Stadium.
Shippensburg (24-14, 13-9 PSAC East) achieved its first four-game season sweep of Millersville (22-22, 6-18) since 2019 by cranking out 30 hits in Tuesday's doubleheader – of which 10 went for extra bases.
Junior shortstop
Caitlyn Martell had five hits on the day, including four in Game 1, to become the 10th player in school history to record 200 career hits.
Freshman
Dani Hayward reached base six times, going 4-for-9 with a go-ahead two-run homer in the ninth inning of Game 1, four total RBIs, five runs and two walks. Hayward earned the complete-game victory in the circle in Game 2, striking out seven.
Junior
Rilee Ehrlacher and sophomore
Sarah Sabocsik each had a double and a triple among their respective four-hit days. Sabocsik scored four runs.
Senior catcher
Aryanna Briddell battled through the day and was 3-for-6 with four RBIs. Sophomores
Brie Wilmot and
Emily Lafferty each doubled twice.
SU had strong starts in both games – it took a 5-0 lead into the bottom of the fourth in Game 1 and into the bottom of the second in Game 2. Millersville was undaunted and countered on both occasions, leading to high drama in both contests.
The Raiders led 5-3 entering the seventh inning in Game 1 and added three runs in the frame that proved to be much needed. Trailing 8-3 with two outs and a lone runner on base, the Marauders put forth a furious rally to tie it.
A walk, a two-run double and another walk chased senior
Alicia Ball from the circle. Now facing sophomore
Madalyn Dyer, MU hit another double to make it 8-7, and a run on an error made it 8-8 before Dyer got a strikeout to send the game into extra innings.
With two outs and nobody on in the top of the ninth, Martell singled and Hayward launched a home run to bring them both home, giving SU a 10-8 lead. In the home half, the Marauders slugged a pair of doubles to make it 10-9 and chase Dyer, bringing sophomore
Maddy Borowski into the circle. After issuing a walk, Borowski struck out Erin Slotcavage and Jocelyn Langer to record her first collegiate save and preserve the win.
The two teams combined for 24 hits and 21 runners left on base in a Game 1 that lasted 2 hours and 45 minutes.
The Marauders used a two-run double and a two-run single in the bottom of the second to answer SU's five-run start. Lafferty doubled home a run for the Raiders in the third, but the Marauders got back within one on an unearned run in the fourth.
Freshman
Grace Ciochetto singled home a run in the fifth to make it 7-5, and SU added two more runs in the sixth on an RBI-single by Briddell and an RBI-triple by Ehrlacher.
Shippensburg is right back at it at 2 p.m. tomorrow when it hosts Bloomsburg at Robb Field.
